Our Painter Ranking Formula
What the score measures, what it does not, and how to use the rankings responsibly.
Useful for homeowners. Fair to local painters.
This site should help users compare painters honestly while giving strong local contractors a public, transparent way to earn visibility.
Baseline Inclusion Rules
Before a painter is shown on a ranking page, the site applies a local-first screen and then builds a score from public business signals. Some markets also receive manual review.
Usually Excluded
- National franchises (CertaPro, Five Star Painting, 360 Painting, etc.)
- Listings with unusable public review data
- Thin or confusing business profiles that do not look credible enough to compare responsibly
Current 100-Point Score
The current score is built from public business data and a conservative business-history baseline. No contractor can pay to move up in this score.
What this means in practice: the score is a shortlist tool. It should help you decide who to call next, not replace license checks, insurance proof, or a written estimate review.
How Each Score Input Is Handled Today
| Input | Weight | Current Handling |
|---|---|---|
| Public Rating | 40 points max | Scores scale from the public star rating available in the ranking dataset. Higher sustained ratings earn more points. |
| Review Volume | 30 points max | Review counts are log-scaled, so bigger profiles earn credit without letting massive counts overpower everything else. |
| Business History | 20 points max | The scoring code uses a conservative 5-year baseline unless additional business-history proof is reviewed for a curated market. |
| Website Presence | 10 points max | A working contractor website earns the full website-presence points. Missing sites lose those points. |
What Is Automated vs. Manually Reviewed
The site is strongest when it says plainly what is in the dataset and what still depends on manual review.
- Nationwide pages are Google Maps-first unless matched Yelp data is available and intentionally merged into the score.
- Curated markets can go deeper with manual review of local ownership, business history, and cross-platform reputation.
- BBB and license data are supporting trust signals today, not direct automated score inputs across every city page.
That distinction matters because the goal is a legitimate comparison site, not a story that overstates how much verification happened automatically.
How Homeowners Should Use the Score
The score is most useful when it helps you ask better questions instead of trying to make the decision for you.
- Use the ranking to shortlist two or three painters instead of calling ten.
- Verify the license and insurance yourself before accepting any estimate.
- Compare scope, prep, paint line, and warranty on the written bids, not just the total price.
- Treat sponsored banners separately from the organic ranking because they are advertising, not score changes.
The site aims to recheck markets regularly, but update timing depends on when public data and manual review work are refreshed.
Current Data Sources
Here is the honest version of what the site currently uses and how those signals fit into the ranking story.
- Google Maps - primary public rating and review-count source across the broadest city coverage.
- Yelp - matched and merged when the update run is configured to use it and the business match is clear enough.
- State licensing boards - used as a verification tool for users, and as a manual trust check where supported.
- BBB and other public business signals - used as supporting context on curated pages, not as a universal automated score input.